Eddie George Thinks McNair Case Might Not Be Open And Shut

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on July 6, 2009, 11:56 AM EST

Though the objective evidence points toward a conclusion that Sahel Kazemi shot and killed former NFL quarterback Steve McNair and then turned the gun on herself, there’s skepticism regarding the question of whether it was truly a murder-suicide — or whether it was merely made to look like one.

One such skeptic is former Oilers and Titans running back Eddie George, who joined the franchise as a first-round pick one year after McNair was the third overall selection in the draft.

Appearing earlier today on Sirius NFL Radio with Peter King and Bob Papa, George said he hopes that police are very thorough. The 1995 Heisman winner also suggested that, in his mind, it’s not an open-and-shut case.

“It seems like it was too professionally done,” George said.

If it truly was a double murder, then George probably is right — the crime was committed not by a crazed ex-boyfriend or a jealous soon-to-be-ex-wife, but by someone(s) who gets paid good money to kill people.

And there’s reason to at least explore carefully whether anyone else might have perpetrated the crime. A reporter from the Tennessean told King and Papa that 35 minutes passed between the moment the bodies were found and the placement of a call to police.

Something about that doesn’t feel right, and something about the entire situation is making us and plenty of others wonder whether someone is trying to get away with murder.

Wow.. Ive come to so many conclusions in the past few days of what happened and every other story I read makes me change my mind.. I would imagine if this was a murder for hire itd be pretty expensive.. So does that really rule out McNairs wife? I really hope the police solve this crime but in the end it wont make a difference to either family, it wont bring anybody back.

“Something about that doesn’t feel right, and something about the entire situation is making us and plenty of others wonder whether someone is trying to get away with murder.”
Assuming it was not a murder-suicide…
You are WONDERING whether someone is trying to get away with murder? As opposed to what? Someone committing murder and hoping to get caught?

The fact that McNair’s male friend (whom he was sharing the condo with) claims he initially walked past the two victims and into the kitchen before returning to the living room and THEN noticing they had been shot and killed is one of the stranger dimensions to this case.
How do you not notice two corpses that have been shot? Blood splatter had to be obviously present.

For real? People are saying “WTH is he doing dating a 20 year old?” If he was separated from his wife (which I have heard, but not confirmed) then what does it matter. She could be 18, and even though it may be taboo, 18 is legal. Heck, a 100 year-old man could date an 18 year old and legall nobody could say a damned thing. It is legal. It isn’t just legal for 18-24 year-olds. It is legal for any person also of legal age. I’m 32, and if I bagged an 18 year-old friends on both sides would be giving congrats. The parents on both sides probably wouldn’t like it much, but it would get the R. Kelly seal of approval…if you know what I mean. It is sad that he got killed, but don’t say that their age difference is important.

if i was the police i’d check Mechelle’s bank records as well…
She’s had the benefit of playing the silence/grieving card, but i just don’t see how McNair could have had this affair for “months” and she wouldn’t have known – especially given the trips to tropical climates, lavish spending (buying the girl an escalade, condo, etc…)

I walked in on two dead bodies and I was gonna call the cops right away, but an old episode of WKRP in Cincinnati came on that I hadn’t seen on forever, so I called after it was over.
Sounds real fishy, but who had a motive to kill McNair?

“A reporter from the Tennessean told King and Papa that 35 minutes passed between the moment the bodies were found and the placement of a call to police.”
That is bizarre. Unless the guy called an ambulance immediately, then police later after the medics got there. To call NO ONE for 35 minutes makes you a suspect.
I agree that the forensics on the mistress will either close the case or open it up as a murder.

If it takes a professional hitman four shots to off someone, he needs to find a new career.
Pros want it as clean and quick as possible so as to attract as little attention as possible. They also know EXACTLY where to place that fatal shot so it counts the first time and the other three shots would not be necessary.
It someone WAS hired to do the job, it was obviously so low-level thug who didn’t know what he was doing and wanted to make a quick $1,000.

I have 1 question since this all started… Why cant they just do a GSR(Gun shot Residue) test on the broad’s hands..if it came up positive,,then it would show she fired the gun,,if not,then she didnt fire it. I mean,is that too obivious

“Something about that doesn’t feel right, and something about the entire situation is making us and plenty of others wonder whether someone is trying to get away with murder.”
Really? Are you serious or just trying to keep some conspiracy theories going?
Hey geniuses, when people who investigate murders tell you that they are not seeking suspects….it means they have a pretty good idea what happened. They are just finishing up their due diligence, and an official release will follow.
If there WERE a suspect, we would know and the people of Nashville would be told that there is someone on the loose that just killed two people. They would warn residents about their safety and ask for any help in catching the killer.

I wonder if the gang from “The First 48” will be on this case… they always use Nashville on that show don’t they?
Anyone look into who stands to benefit from insurance policies on McNair ASIDE from his wife? Maybe a business partner in his restaurant had had enough of dealing with him and knew that he could frame him pretty easily.
I’d look into if the guy McNair shared this apartment with had any relationships with McNair’s business partners too, considering the fishiness of the 911 call timing.

Enough with the conspiracy theories. If police thought something was odd, they’d be looking for a suspect. No professional hit takes four shots. He was sitting on the couch… no ex-boyfriend or hitman walked in with a gun while just sat there. GSR will show that she flipped out (presumably because he was still with his wife and didnt leave like he said he would) and killed him. Let’s not forget that there was probably alcohol involved, which can inhibit your judgement. Anyone remember the dumb arguments that went down after a party with the girl you were sleeping with in college?
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

“If it takes a professional hitman four shots to off someone, he needs to find a new career.”
Could it be that if it was a hired gun that they WANTED to make it look like a murder/suicide?
4 shots looks like an act of passion or insanity, or just maybe someone who knew exactly what they were doing.
And if I was wealthy enough for a bodyguard he would have explicit instructions to make sure if anything happens to me that they are to collect/find/dispose of ANYTHING that would shame my name and or families name upon my death…

To All – Gunshot Residue Tests fall under pretty much the same category as polygraphs. They’re mainly used as an intimidation tactic against the suspect.
Most of you (including Florio and Eddie George) need to quit watching CSI and old X-Files reruns. 999 times out of 1000, the simplest explaination is the correct one. McNair told the girl it was over, she went off and capped him with the GUN SHE JUST BOUGHT!!!

Having some experience in law enforcement I can assure you the police are going to keep everything as close to the vest as possible until they are SURE what happened and that includes having other suspects. Just because they don’t APPEAR to be actively pursuing other suspects or leads, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
As I said on another thread, with a case with this public interest and scrutiny they are going to be especially careful to dot their i’s and cross their t’s before making a definitive public declaration of the person responsible for the deaths.
So far I’ve been impressed with the way the police have apparently been handling the case…..cautiously and carefully.

People leaving comments on this story have no idea what they are talking about (neither do I) –
If I’m a professional killer that wants to make this look like a murder-suicide, do I shot the guy once execution style that makes it look a professional job, or do I shot the guy 4 times and make it look like a crime of passion done by a 20-yr old girl.
Also, If I’m a professional killer, do I leave the girl’s hand clean so that no GSR (gun shot residue) comes up, or do I take her hand after she’s dead put it around the gun and fire so GSR comes up on her hand?
And Eddie George’s statement of “it looks to well done” – maybe it looks to well done because that’s how it happened so it looks just like it’s supposed to. How else is murder-suicide supposed to look? Should she have left a suicide note? That would’ve made it look even more fishy
There’s a chance there was a hit out for Steve McNair, but because he potentially roofied some girl?? I doubt it.

I’m certainly not saying this was a professional hit cause I don’t think it was, but to the people saying it wasn’t professional because McNair was shot 4 times, if a pro hitman wanted to make a hit look like a murder suicide he would want it to not look like a professional hit, he would want it to look personal.

Could be the room was dark when McNair’s friend walked in and he was used to seeing the two of them crashed on the sofa. When he came back in, maybe turning lights on, he saw what had happened.
Why it took half an hour to call the police after he discovered the bodies is a whole other thing.
Do we know what kind of gun it was and how big she was?

“McNair told the girl it was over, she went off and capped him with the GUN SHE JUST BOUGHT!!! ”
Have they determined the girl bought the gun? If so, I missed the news release, which is possible. Last I heard they had not tracked down who the gun belonged to or where it was obtained but maybe there is a later report.

lion_duke says:
July 6, 2009 2:02 PM
To All – Gunshot Residue Tests fall under pretty much the same category as polygraphs. They’re mainly used as an intimidation tactic against the suspect.
Not true, at least not in NC. It can be admissable as evidence in court. I am not sure about TN. Your right in the assumption that it is good ammo for an interrogation. However, it can be introduced to the jury as evidence with all the other facts.

Why wait to call? They are dead already. So calling the cops is not going to help save them.
But if someone might place a call his body-guard and consider saving your buddies good name by not having him found dead along side his adulterous mistress. So that could be a reason to delay calling the cops. Not a good reason, but a reason.
People make dumb decisions. They could have thought about hiding her body so that McNair could be remembered with good name intact. Then after 35 minutes realized it was a dumb thing to try.
He could have also waited in order to try to control how McNair’s wife got the news. Like from a friend rather then on a random news report. He did just see the fiasco unfold surrounding that famous singers death.

Or maybe if the potential killer is a “professional” he just shot him multiple times to make it look like a homicide…and thus eliminating the assumption of a calculated assassination.
Either way, why don’t we let the professionals do their jobs and figure it out with their expertise. I’m sure they have more information than any of us will ever have access to.

The problem with GSR tests is that they don’t definitively prove that the suspect actually fired a firearm. All they show is that the chemical compunds that are a part of fired cartridges are present on the hands – and those compounds could come from other sources.

I’m not sure I believe the murder-suicide scenario. Here’s why:
First, here’s the 20-year-old girl who’s with the older wealthy and famous married guy. Wouldn’t she be “young and naive” and believe him if he was saying that he’d be leaving his wife to be with her? But, let’s say things changed. Maybe he told her that he wasn’t sure he could leave his wife (and family). Maybe he loves his kids too much.
They’re out partying together a few days ago and on the way to the condo, she’s pulled over and cited for DUI. She tells the arresting officer that she wasn’t drunk, she was high. On what, we don’t know. But, they’re out partying till late in the evening that night. And, the next night.
Is she so emotionally distraught that she would suddenly decide to kill McNair? Has she ever handled a gun before? Can she hit a target if she tried? How good would her aim be if she was freaking out emotionally, ready to kill him and herself?
Personally, I can’t imagine her hitting her target with every shot. Even if she did shoot him and the first bullet went into his chest, would she be freaking out more knowing that she’d just shot a man that she’s supposedly in love with?
If this situation even began, wouldn’t it start with a fair amount of talk possibly escalating to yelling, especially after she brandishes a loaded gun? Shouldn’t there have been enough noise “to wake the neighborhood”?
I’m having a tough time trying to figure out how a girl could become such a cold, calculating murderer, be so accurate with all four shots, then simply put a gun to her head and kill herself. This situation just doesn’t feel right to me and it hasn’t from the beginning.

artvandelay316 said: “I have 1 question since this all started… Why cant they just do a GSR(Gun shot Residue) test on the broad’s hands..if it came up positive,,then it would show she fired the gun,,if not,then she didnt fire it. I mean,is that too obivious”
CSI & The Shield have shown regular folk how to get past a situation where a person is killed. You can put the gun in their hands post-mortem and fire a shot. GSR situation solved. OJ escapes with everybody thinking there was was a murder/suicide. The only thing that would kill that theory is the spent cartridges. There were 5 shots in the two victims. How many were in the shells were found vs how many did the clip hold and was there one in the pipe? If it was a straight murder I don’t know that the culprit will ever be caught.

It was the chick that shot McNair. 4 shots? 4 shots to me sounds like an idiot with a gun (aka a CHICK!). One shot to the head, obviously a MAN shot that. Thus, 35 minutes past. The roommate enters the room sees the chick blasting holes in McNair, he grabs the gun from her and blasts her in the head. 35 minutes later after covering it all up then calls 911. Buds protect their buds.

McNair wasn’t leaving his wife; he was stringing his mistress along. Whether the mistress killed him and herself or if another person was involved remains to be seen. I think the roommate, when he found them, was so dumbfounded and shocked and had no clue what to do, so called the friend instead. Perhaps he/they had thoughts of the world and the wife now knowing about the affair and perhaps wanting to remove things from the condo, etc. And yes, it’s easy for a guy with $ and who travels a lot to hide an affair from his family.

lion_duke – you’re correct with your analysis of what GSR is, but you are wrong with your comments about admissability in court. GSR test ARE admissable and if you have a proper GSR expert on the stand, it can be quite convincing.
GSR found on a person does not mean they are the only person capable of committing a crime – but a lack of GSR would equal vindication, or a suspicious lack of GSR could indicate something being wiped clean/scrubbed.

it’s her gun and it was found under her and at the crime scene.
here is another thought for conspiracy buffs who are talking conspiracy when there isnt one (and who dont talk conspiracy when one is really happening), like now. look real hard at the people who would have been involved in making this case only APPEAR to be a murder-suicide.
do they really have the stones and the competence to pull off anything like that? people who would be absolutely impervious to examination…
i am a betting man and i bet no. this is real life. it aint no disco.
murder-suicide. and four shots? sure she was pissed and likely had an itchy trigger finger. maybe she also thought it would take more than one shot to keep a big man from trying to stop her.
she may have calmed down, speaking hand/finger reflexes only, a mite for shot #5.

OJ was just spotted driving a white Ford Bronco….
C’mon, everything doesn’t have to be a conspiracy – I think we are all watching too many stupid movies.
Can’t this just be a lover’s quarrel gone terribly wrong? Same thing just happened in my neighborhood 2 months ago. Why is a murder-suicide so hard for many to believe?
High-profile star takes a girlfriend, she loves the money and fame, then he decides to break it off and she flips out? So hard to believe?
The family of the girl says “I can’t believe she would do this.” What are they supposed to say?…”oh yeah, beyotch was CRAZY, I totally knew she was going to cap him and then put it in her mouth and pull the trigger.”
Next “story” please……

Honestly, there does seem to be something fishy going on and I’m glad I’m not alone in smelling it. It seemed odd to me that there were 2 shots in the chest and 2 shots in the head…it does seem awfully thorough.
The Fred Lane story, for instance, really left no doubt as to who the murderer was…it was easy to say—psycho wife. Here it just doesn’t fit for some reason, and maybe we’ll find out otherwise in the days to come.
He was a helluva football player and I couldn’t help, but root for him everytime I saw him play. This whole story has been a shock and its a plain shame that 2 people so young ended up leaving behind loved ones and not fulfilling their lives’ potential.

think about it. if you shoot yourself in the head, you’re going to shoot in the temple or the front of the head where the gun will shoot backwards and will either land somewhere infront of her body and not somewhere where it would land under her because of the power of the gunshot. it just sounds something schemed to make it look like a murder-suicide.

and did anybody think a pro killed them using a silencer on the gun? because that many shots in a condo wouldve been heard, no doubt. one shot would do it, no matter the time. if someone used a silencer, potentially someone the wife hired to get back at her husband, maybe even pick up life insurance if it’s there or anymoney possible to pick up i.e. selling his things and all that stuff in the process. it sounds like a win-win for a wife who finds out about her husbands “affair” or him leaving her for another woman. I mean it’s all entirely possible and I don’t think anybody can refute how fishy this all sounds. he was with her nights before that and she wasnt at all irked about his actions and not being angry at him for not leaving his wife? I mean we don’t know how a pro would have this gun, but there are ways to get the gun depending on where it was or maybe even the person bought the gun in her name, seeing as her name isn’t really male or female oriented and most gun shop owners don’t really worry about the paperwork as much or run thorough background checks.

I know this just might just be a rumor, but from what I hear (from a downtown Nashville source), McNair had recently begun seeing a young blonde girl recently (not his wife or the alleged shooter). If true, this could significantly impact a motive theory. Time will tell…